How to Start a Lifestyle Blog

My Success Story Blogging began as a hobby and has transformed into so much more than that for me. That’s the biggest reason that I want to show others how to start a lifestyle blog. It has opened so many doors and presented many opportunities that wouldn’t have been there without this blog of mine. Blogging has allowed me to do what I love and to stay at home with my babies (see: 85 Ways to Make Money Blogging). It has allowed me to create my own schedule and express myself in ways I never knew were possible before. You can see on our income reports here that we’ve been netting an average of about $20,000 in blog income every month this year.

What is a lifestyle blog? A lifestyle blog is simply a blog where you write about things going on in your life! It can be very general, or can focus on one aspect of your life (like motherhood or fashion) with some other content mixed in every now and then. It’s really a wide-open option, which is why I recommend it!

FREE BONUS COURSEUpdate: in order to provide you additional support once you start your blog, my husband and I have created a free course teaching you the ins and outs of WordPress from placing a custom header on your blog to plugin use and widget management. It’s everything you need to avoid those speed bumps that everyone hits when just starting out! You can get the course 100% free by clicking right here.

I also created this one-page PDF printable with an 8-week launch checklist. If you do everything on this checklist, you’ll be well on your way to your first $1,000 month!

Before We Begin: Why start a lifestyle blog?

There are so many great reasons to start a blog today! Let’s talk about the obvious one first – money. Yes, you can earn money blogging. I just had my first $100k year and things are only getting better! The best part is that because I make a living from my blog, I am able to stay home with my babies and work from here!

Don’t let anyone try and tell you blogging is an easy, get rich quick thing. It takes a LOT of work, but I still believe it is one of the BEST businesses a stay-at-home-mom, student (or anyone!) can start because of the LOW startup cost and unlimited potential.

I’ve been able to live a life I only dreamt about when I was waiting tables at a restaurant 5 years ago. I am able to wake up every day and do exactly what I want to do!

Step 1: choose your blog topic

What are you interested in? Blogging about what interests you is very important. If you like the topic, and are interested in what you’re writing about, your readers will pick up on that. You’ll also enjoy doing it more and that is especially important if you’re going to stick with it.

Even if you’re blogging as a business, it should still be fun and something that you enjoy.

What are you good at? If you have a particular skill that you think should be shared with the world, a blog is the perfect place to do it! Do you excel in the kitchen? Start a food blog! Are your friends always asking you for fashion advice? Perhaps fashion blogging is the way to go.

If you can offer tips and generally help people out, they will flock to your blog.

Step 2: choose the proper platform

WordPress all the way I won’t even discuss other options because I am so passionate about WordPress as a blogging platform. Here are a few reasons why WordPress is the best platform for blogging:

Great for beginners

Tons of free themes available

Easily customizable, even if you have no coding knowledge

There are tons of free plugins that make just about everything easier

WordPress is the most commonly used platform, and therefore there are tons of resources out there providing help, should you get stuck

Why not a free platform? There are many reasons why you should avoid using a free platform for your blog. Among them are:

Some free platforms put their own ads on your site

Most free platforms restrict your ability to put ads on your site or make any money at all

There is virtually no support available and even something as simple as a design change warrants a cost (thus becoming not free)

You will have an ugly URL, such as www.yourblog.blogspot.com

Most importantly, you don’t own your blog when it’s on a free platform – it’s literally like building your house on land that you don’t own

Let me address that last point again. If your blog is on a free platform, you do not own the blog, or the URL. This means (and it has happened before) that your blog could be shut down at the drop of a hat, for any reason they see fit. Some blogs have been shut down because the blogger was working with a company that the platform owners don’t like. You don’t want to put your blog in someone else’s hands just to save five bucks a month.

Step 3: snag your URL or domain name

If you already have a domain name, click this page to see how to get HostGator hosting set up for your existing domain.

Ok, now that you’ve got your blog topic and are ready to set up your WordPress blog, it’s time to get a domain name. This will be your website’s address, or what goes here: www.YOURSITE.com.Tips on choosing a domain name:

Make it as short as you can. The shorter it is, the easier it is for people to remember and type.

Make sure it conveys your blog’s message. While trying to keep it short, be sure to include something about yourself or your blog’s message in the URL.

Don’t steal. It’s best not to copy someone else’s idea when it comes to your blog. I also don’t recommend using brand names in your URL.

Step 4: Get hosting

It’s time to click right here to head over to HostGator to get your domain and hosting.I am a HostGator affiliate and get a commission when you use my links to save up to an extra 60% off your plan. I could be an affiliate for any company, but I choose HostGator due to their incredibly low costs and awesome 24/7 customer support. Their one-click WordPress install is perfect for people who are starting new blogs.

When you use the exclusive links on this post, plans start at under $5/month $3/month!

Note – I have an exclusive 40% off codeup to 60% off deal for HostGator plans. Normal affiliates get a 25% off code to offer their readers, but I asked for more and you get to reap the benefits!

Choose a plan and you’ll be at this screen: Here, you’ll enter the domain name aka your blog’s web address. The first couple you enter might already be taken. Don’t get discouraged! There are still great, unclaimed domain names out there!

Upon entering an available domain, you will see that it is available and it will be automatically added to your cart (as shown above).

You will then be given the option to add the .net and .org versions of your domain. I generally do not do this and only buy the .com domain.

You’ll also see a checkbox for “Domain Privacy Protection”. You want to keep this checked. It’s $10/year, but it prevents your registration information from being public information. This keeps your email address, phone number and even physical address from being public information. Instead, they will see HostGator’s company information.

Scroll down a bit to see this screen:

Confirm your hosting package and billing cycle length and then create an account username and password.

Scroll down and enter your billing info. Their site is 100% secure.

Note: if at any point during this process you get stuck, feel free to contact me (info at the bottom of post) or jump on the phone and call HostGator at 1-866-96-GATOR or click the “live chat” button in the top right portion of their page and they’ll be happy to help you out.

Scroll down a bit more for some extra options. You don’t NEED any of these, as they can all be achieved outside of HostGator. For example, there are plugins to back up your blog and to improve security. Basically, I’d take note as to what these add-ons do and look for ways to do them yourself. It’s cheaper and more effective.

If you used any of the links in this post, the next section will have code KDW60 already entered to get your 60% discount!

Underneath of that, you’ll be able to review your order. It will look something like this:Check the box that you agree to their terms, move forward and complete your payment.

Whew!

Step 5: install WordPress

Once payment is complete, you’ll receive an email within a few minutes confirming your purchase and containing important information. I recommend forwarding this email to another email address that you own so it is in two places just in case.

In the email will be a link to your control panel aka cpanel. You’re going to want to click that. You’ll have to login. The login and password will be in the email as well.

Now that you’re past that screen, you should get to your cPanel. This is the “back end” of your site and where all of the key technical matters will take place. It will look like this:DON’T click the Build a New WordPress Site icon! We’re going to Install WordPress from a different location.

In the cpanel, you’ll see a LOT of icons. Ignore them all for now. You don’t want to spend a lot of time here unless you really know what you are doing. What we will do here is install WordPress. With HostGator, it is actually very easy to install WordPress on a domain. In your cPanel, scroll down and look for a “Software/Services” section. It’ll look like this: Click QuickInstall to move forward.

Then choose WordPress:

Choose your domain from the dropdown and leave the directory box blank:

Next, you’ll be at the WordPress install screen.

Fill out the boxes on that next screen and click install. Install will take a couple of minutes and then you’ll see this screen: From there, copy your password and click “login” use your username and password from the previous screen and login!

Note: While most blogs will be able to be accessed right away, this process could take up to 48 hours. A very few amount of blogs will have to wait up to 48 hours, due to their location in comparison to the HostGator data servers. Feel free to use the HostGator chat support found right on their site to ask them for updates on this process.

This is what your WordPress dashboard will look like:

Aaaaaaand that is how to start a lifestyle blog that is self-hosted on WordPress.

Whew! We made it! Was it easy? Do you have questions? Leave a comment below, email me [email protected] or catch me on Twitter @RealZackReyes. I’m happy to walk you through this process!

While there are free WordPress themes available, I recommend jumping right in with a premium theme. Most often, premium themes are more functional, user friendly and SEO friendly. I recommend a Genesis theme because of the functionality, moderate price and ease of use. All of our sites (including katiedidwhat.com) run on Genesis.

Note: See this 2 minute Genesis installation video that Zack made for help installing your Genesis Framework and child theme! Mac users, please note: there is a default setting on Mac computers that unzips downloaded files and then deletes the zip file automatically. There are a few simple solutions to resolve this issue and get your Genesis theme installed.

You can disable this option in the browser preferences. I just looked and the option says “Open safe files after downloading” and is in the “General” tab. Once disabled you should be able to download zip files like normal.

Or you can press ctrl while clicking on the download link and select to save as, which will let you download the zip file without unzipping.

***Please note: you will need a Genesis theme, not just the Genesis Framework. When you get to the page linked here, the very first “Theme” you see is the Genesis Framework. Don’t buy that separately. As you browse the themes, you’ll notice that they are all priced to include the framework anyway. Choose one of the 60 themes. My favorites are: Foodie Pro, Glam Pro, Simply Pro and Modern Studio Pro. Any of those themes make for a great blog design right out of the box.

There have been countless times where I’ve made a change here and a tweak there myself as opposed to paying a developer $50 to do it. Genesis makes changes easy for our blogs and that’s important to us.

Depending on how comfortable you are with HTML and CSS code, you will be able to customize your site on your own. If your knowledge is limited, a Genesis theme will look and perform better than any other right out of the box. If you don’t want to touch the design at all, just do a Google search for a “WordPress blog designer” and choose someone who looks legit.

Step 7: publish your first post

When you’re ready to post, hover over the “Posts” option and a new dropdown menu will appear. Click New Post and you’re off and running!

To delete the original post that they put there, click all posts and you’ll see an option to trash that “Hello World” post.

Visit MoreFromYourBlog.com for tips on gaining traffic, increasing your social media following, making money from your blog and much, much more.

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Tips for Blogging Success

-Write about what you love. What are you passionate about? What makes you excited and really makes you you? If you write about things that you truly love, chances are your writing will be better and others will love reading it!

-Be consistent. Whether you’re blogging once a day or once a week, consistency is key!

-Be ethical. Disclose properly for products and payments received in return for posts, and also don’t plagiarize or steal ideas and images.

-Make your blog beautiful! Spend time (or money) making the small design details of your blog perfect for you!

-Be active on social media. Don’t automate all of your accounts. Rather, be present on each platform that you’re trying to build. People like you for you and your personality should sine through!

-Take pride in the pictures that you put on your blog. This is all yours- own it!

-Steer clear of any blog drama! It is not worth your time. If you don’t have anything nice to say, just don’t say anything at all!

-Most importantly: HAVE FUN! If you’re not enjoying what you are doing, you are more likely to give up. Plus, it will come through in your content, and others will be able to tell that you aren’t enjoying it, too.

Step Eight: Do You REALLY Want to Get Serious About Blogging?

If you want to really start with a serious thought about making money, build your email list from day ONE! We use ConvertKit for a couple of our blogs and love it. You can create an email series that automatically sends emails to new subscribers in time intervals that you set.

A good idea is to set ConvertKit up to send your new subscribers 6-8 of your best posts (send one per week.) This is great for traffic and for helping them to get to know your writing. You can also email your entire list when you have new posts/annoucnements/products to promote.

Did you have any questions on how to start a lifestyle blog? Comment below and I’ll try and answer!

Reader Interactions

Comments

Hello Katie! Your post is great. I had already done most of these steps when I found it, but still helpful! I was actually looking for info about blog posts when I found your post. I’m getting ready to launch my blog, but one thing has been bothering me for a while. My blog will be about natural things (home, beauty, care, etc.), but part of it will also be more of a lifestyle/personal blog (you know, student life, girl advice, personal experiences, etc). So my question is: How the heck am I supposed to promote my ‘’lifestyle’’ posts? I mean, for the natural living part, it’s easy. But lifestyle… I never see posts on pinterest that go like ths: ‘’ this or that event of my life happened’’.How do you do it? I’m really intrigued! Thanks in advance!

Hi Katie! I am finally starting my blog. Ive been wanting to do it for along time. Today is the day! right? I have a question… how many posts should I have ready the day I launch, so it doesn’t look empty? do I start with essays or should I add sections to it (mom hacks, recipes , tips etc)? Thank you!

Yes! Today is the day! You don’t have to have a certain amount of posts ready when you launch. I launched with just one! It’s all up to you. If you don’t have an existing audience, you don’t necessarily need a lot of posts when you launch, because who will be reading them?

Very bold move, girl! Hahaha :) Good thing it worked out for you! I have 4 posts and I’m still stressing out about that fact. I’m supposed to launch tomorrow, but because I don’t have more, I think I’ll launch my blog on the 15th. Maybe by then I’ve written 2 more. I’m just struggling with USEFUL stuff to write about, ya know? My blog is also a lifestyle one. Anyway, it’d be cool if you checked it out, I’m liking how it’s turning out and I ENJOYED SO MUCH writing my first 4 posts. I really feel like this is for me and I wish I can make this my living, it’d be such a blessing.

Hi Katie. Love your approach to blogging. I need to find out how to post and be seen on Pinterest. I have a food blog (basically just getting started), and need to know more about Pinterest. Any thoughts?

Hi Katie, I just came across your blog a few weeks ago and I’m loving it! My question is about your hosting site – do you and your husband host your blogs from the same host account? If so, can you explain how to do this? My husband and I are in the contemplation phase of starting our own blogs and wondering if we can sign up for one hosting account and then run our individual blogs from that or if it would be better to have our own hosting accounts. Thanks for your help! I’m looking forward to getting it all set up so I can start on your 8 week guide

So I have been following directions for setting up a domain site on gatorhost. I didn’t realize Word Press was $100 just for basic. Are there similar things that dont cost a lot? I know I may never make money and certainly not much anytime soon. It word press absolutely necessary in your eyes and if so, just the basic will do?

It’s not the wordpress that costs, it’s the hosting. Many hosting companies offer cpanel which can install wordpress free of charge. But all hosting companies require payment. Some are annual and some, like mine, are monthly. So it’s not really wordpress that you’re paying $100 for. It’s the hosting of your entire site. Having a site means traffic and traffic means bandwidth.

Hey!!! So I’m trying to get back into blogging. However, I am a full-time student who is focusing on school rather than working during school. Therefore, I do not have the funds. I have a “free” blog. I do not really agree with having a free blog is not effective. How do you deal with this?

Hey! I definitely think a free blog is a great way to start, but a WordPress.com blog is limiting in the functionality, as they don’t offer the same selection of plugins. Additionally, many advertisers will require you to be a self-hosted blog to work with them. Again, you can absolutely start and make some money on a free platform, it’s just more difficult and limiting.

Hi Katie! Do we need to create the wordpress blog first and THEN purchase through HostGator? I am a little confused about whether to create the wordpress blog first or to purchase the domain first…. Thanks so much! :)

I’m looking to start my own blog ASAP, but I’m wondering why you are recommending using HostGator instead of creating my domain through WordPress directly? I am completely new to the blogging world, so I apologize if this is a silly question.

If you create your domain through WordPress directly, you are using the free WordPress.com hosting, which is very limiting in functionality. Because of that reason and because of the very low cost of HostGator, I don’t recommend it.

Hello Katie, Great post and easy to follow. I have been blogging since June but I am still new to it and I am still learning. I have the Personal Plan through WordPress, I will be moving to the Premium Plan here soon. In setting up my blog I did miss the Hosting step, can you explain what the purpose of this is and is it too late for me to host my WordPress blog now? Thank you for your help.

Hi Katie! Great post. I have been doing researching and have been wanting to start a blog for about a year. I don’t really have a ‘niche’ though…? I was thinking probably lifestyle would be my best option since I like writing about my own experiences (beauty, cooking, just simply life stuff) and then integrate faith based stuff into it. Do you think it’s even worth a try? Or should I keep waiting until I find a niche? Thanks so much!

I always tell people to just go for it! Just start! That’s what I did 8 years ago! As you write more and more posts, you’ll figure out what you enjoy writing about the most and what your audience is most interested in. You can react to those things and shape your content that way. I hope that helps!

Hello, Thank you so much for posting this article. It has helped me out so much in transferring my blog to a professional looking sight. I am loving this self-hosting thing so far. There seem to be a lot of hidden (or rather unbeknownst until you realize you need a specific plugin or widget that is not free) costs to self-hosting. I also now have a “will be funny in the future when I look back on it all” story about transferring my domain from my previous host to my new one. Thank you once again for giving me the place to start on my own website which is a advice blog for young adults who are trying to figure out how to be adults. I am so excited to get this journey started! All the best, lavenderbug

Thank you for this detailed and insightful information! I’ve been working on my blog for a while now and am excited/scared to take it to the next level. Thank you for your constant uplifting posts! You are a joy to follow! :)

Hi thank you for all detailed explanation! It was very helpful and insightful for me who is in the process of starting my own blog. I have on equestion: what is the difference between the host and the platform?

The host is who stores all of your website data on their server and the platform is the service that you use to run your blog, create posts, upload images and design your site. So, WordPress is a platform and HostGator is the host. I hope that helps!

Hey Katie! I love this post, it’s everything I was looking for, I’m going to get my blog up and going soon I just had a question about how you edit your photos on your Instagram account to make it flow together? AlsI do you reach out to companies you want to work with or do they reach out to you?

I use VSCO and Afterlight to edit most of my Instagram photos. I try and keep a similar look and feel to most of my photos while still posting a good variety of content there. As far as question #2, I do both reaching out and getting pitched. After a while, pitches will come your way more often, but if there’s a particular brand I really want to work with, I’ll reach out to them. I hope that helps!

Hi! I hope this makes sense- but how do you build your traffic on your blog? How do new people find your blog? Your Instagram followers may read it, but how do you become more popular so that you could start to make money? Thank you!

Hi Katie! A friend and I have been talking about blogging together. I’m wondering if the blog becomes profitable, would it be difficult to figure out how to share the profit/expenses/taxes, figure out filing taxes, etc? Is it better to blog on my own for these reasons to avoid complications, or do you think it’s doable? Thanks for Amy advice!

While I don’t think it would be difficult to split things and there are certainly people who do that, I would do it on your own. Maybe that’s just because that’s the way I found my own success though. Having a partner would probably help it get off the ground faster with two people doing the foundational work.

Hi Katie, I am currently researching the possibility of starting a homesteading blog. The initial setup seems straight forward enough, very similar to setting up my website ( which I no longer have). But could you please tell me what plug-ins and widgets are used for ona blog?

I already have a free wordpress blog and I chose the option to pay extra to purchase my domain name so that I don’t have the extra .wordpress in my blog name. My question is if I already have a blog and want to transfer it – how does that work and will I be able to keep my domain name, or will wordpress hold it? My domain name is my name so I’d like to keep it.

Hi Katie! I’m looking at hostgator right now, is the $144.02 good for 36 months? Do you think it’s possible to build a site for 36 months and earn? how much did you earn and how did you start getting big? Thank you!

Thanks so much for this post. It is exactly what I need and I love your vlogs on youtube too. You and your hubby are the cutest and obviously make a great team. I’m so excited to get my blog started and start posting. Thanks love! :)

Hi! Thank you for writing such a helpful blog post. I do have a question– if I already have a domain through blogger, can I just switch over to wordpress? I’m not sure how that works so I thought you might know.

Hi! I already set up my blog through wordpress, not really knowing about hosting. I set it up under Premium. What do I need to do now? Do I need to put it on HostGator too. I’m a little confused on the whole web hosting thing.

Your post is so helpful in easing my anxieties as far as “I have I crossed all my t’s and dotted all of my i’s” for the actual “starting a blog” part. I am DEFINTELY going to check out convertkit before I start promoting my blog and officially publishing my first post. My biggest dilemma right now is whether to make social media now. I’m from a small town and don’t know if sharing on my personal accounts is beneficial. What social media do you post most on and did you start advertising right off the bat?

So when I started, the only social media out there was Facebook and Twitter and I didn’t do much with them. I definitely recommend anyone starting out now goes all in on social media. It’s the best and fastest way to grow an audience quickly. Definitely an email list from day one is a great idea as well. You can also create different social accounts for your blog if you don’t want to share your personal accounts.

Hello Katie :) I am following your 8 week set up…thank you for this outline. I am wondering in week 4 you have “create a shop page with affiate links” and on week 5 you have “create resources page with affilate links”. Is that the same thing or am I thinking about this wrong? I have a shop page that I created with prodcuts that I have listed in my blog posts such as, shoes, etc. They also are linked with my affilate links. Thanks so much. Really enjoy following you all over social media.

I started a blog a few years ago, and got busy with life, so now i want to pick it back up again. I left off trying to figure out how to use mailchimp but it was so confusing, i think it is linked to my blog, do you think convertkit is easier? and how to unhook my blog from mail chimp?

Hi! Thank you so much for your incredibly descriptive tips! I’ve been visiting your page the past few days, trying to start a lifestyle blog. I really want to do your step by step guide using both Hostgator and WordPress. I won’t have the funds until next week though. From my understanding, I think I could, but just want to be sure, I can create a blog using a domain name I purchase and be hosted through Hostgator all for $150.00? With wanting it to be a potentially profitable blog, I’d like to take all the right steps now, and definitely want to set it up with all of your above recommendations. TIA

Yes, you could do that all with a year of hosting for under $150 with my code. You can also lower the commitment length to bring the price down, but the per-month price increases as you do that. We recommend at least a year, but it’s up to you!

I am a health care professional and a mom. I would love to start a blog that I could share things that I am passionate about in relation to healthcare and being mom. I am very unfamiliar with how blogs works as far getting a following and an audience when working from ground up.? Would you be able to share your knowledge on that?

Just wanted to share how much I have enjoyed your blog; actually both of them! I am a new blogger and your step-by-step explanation was super helpful. While there are lots of sites out there with similar information, I preferred the way your organized your content and visually mapped out the approach. We help those we like, so I used all of your links too. ;) Gotta support fellow moms out there! Keep up the great work and I know I’ll be stopping by regularly as I continue to develop my site and content.

Thank you so much for this post! I have one question though, is it possible to go in-depth of items listed in the 8-week launch list? Or is there a blog post about it that I am missing? I would really want to learn more about every tiny detail on that list! For example, what is an evergreen post and what should it look like? Thanks again~~

Hi! I’m working on a premium product (a paid course) that goes in depth on the items in the 8-week course. If you signed up for the email list using the box that popped up on this page, you’ll be notified when the course is available! It should be within 2-3 weeks.